Systems, methods, and media for evaluating companies based on social performance

ABSTRACT

Mechanisms for evaluating companies based on social performance are provided. In some embodiments, systems comprise: at least one processor that: receives data regarding a plurality of companies from a plurality of data sources, wherein the data includes score values regarding the social performance of the plurality of companies; calculates category scores for each of the plurality of companies in each of a plurality of categories based on the score values; calculates a combined score for each of the plurality of companies based on the category scores; compares at least one of the combined score and the category scores for one of the plurality of companies to a threshold; and based on results of the comparison, presents an advertisement to the user that corresponds to the one of the plurality of companies.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/057,224, filed Aug. 7, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/752,010, filed Jun. 26, 2015, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/859,222, filed Aug.18, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,070,134, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/234,775, filed Aug. 18, 2009, eachof which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Interest in and concern about the social performance of companies isgrowing as people become increasingly aware of the effect companyactivities have on society. For example, those who care about theenvironment are starting to demand that companies limit their carbonemission, reduce their consumption of water and raw materials, and avoidemitting harmful chemicals and pollutants. Similarly, large groups ofconsumers and a number of social organizations, foundations, andgovernment agencies study and care about corporate behavior on issuessuch as diversity in the workplace and the board room, human rights,community responsibility, business ethics and transparency, productquality and safety, and involvement in countries that have restrictiveor undemocratic regimes.

As a result of this growing awareness of the importance of socialperformance and sustainable behavior, thousands of businesses and socialorganizations incorporate social responsibility and sustainabilityconsiderations into their decisions. Hundred of thousands of branding,marketing, supply chain, and corporate strategy managers in largecompanies need to benchmark their company's performance, manage theimpact of environmental, employee, community, and governance issues ontheir brand and manage their interaction with customer, employee,investor, and activist stakeholders. The managers and staff of 1.3million US foundations and nonprofits must select corporate targets fordonations, endorsements, and social action. Bloggers, journalists, andeco-driven consumers actively seek information on and support companiesthat fit their personal social values.

Previously, no adequate mechanism has been provided for measuring andmonitoring the social performance of companies.

SUMMARY

Systems, methods, and media for evaluating companies based on socialperformance are provided. In some embodiments, systems for evaluatingcompanies based on social performance are provided, the systemscomprising: at least one processor that: receives data regarding aplurality of companies from a plurality of data sources, wherein a firstportion of the data received from at least one of the plurality of datasources includes score values regarding the social performance of theplurality of companies that use a different scoring system than scorevalues included in a second portion of the data received from at leastone other of the plurality of data sources; converts the score valuesincluded in the first portion of the data and the score values includedin the second portion of the data into uniform score values in a singlescoring system; calculates category scores for each of the plurality ofcompanies in each of a plurality of categories based on the uniformscore values; receives a first plurality of weights selected by a user,wherein each of the first plurality of weights corresponds to a uniqueone of the plurality of categories; calculates a first combined scorefor each of the plurality of companies based on a weighting of thecategory scores using the first plurality of weights; causes a firstlist of the plurality of companies and the corresponding first combinedscore for each of the plurality of companies to be presented to theuser; receives a second plurality of weights selected by the user,wherein each of the second plurality of weights corresponds to a uniqueone of the plurality of categories; calculates a second combined scorefor each of the plurality of companies based on a weighting of thecategory scores using the second plurality of weights; and causes asecond list of the plurality of companies and the corresponding secondcombined score for each of the plurality of companies to be presented tothe user.

In some embodiments, systems for evaluating companies based on socialperformance are provided, the systems comprising: at least one processorthat: receives data regarding a plurality of companies from a pluralityof data sources, wherein the data includes score values regarding thesocial performance of the plurality of companies; calculates categoryscores for each of the plurality of companies in each of a plurality ofcategories based on the score values; calculates a combined score foreach of the plurality of companies based on the category scores;compares at least one of the combined score and the category scores forone of the plurality of companies to a threshold; and based on resultsof the comparison, presents an advertisement to the user thatcorresponds to the one of the plurality of companies.

In some embodiments, methods for evaluating companies based on socialperformance are provided, the methods comprising: receiving dataregarding a plurality of companies from a plurality of data sources,wherein a first portion of the data received from at least one of theplurality of data sources includes score values regarding the socialperformance of the plurality of companies that use a different scoringsystem than score values included in a second portion of the datareceived from at least one other of the plurality of data sources;converting, in a computer programmed to do so, the score values includedin the first portion of the data and the score values included in thesecond portion of the data into uniform score values in a single scoringsystem; calculating category scores for each of the plurality ofcompanies in each of a plurality of categories based on the uniformscore values; receiving a first plurality of weights selected by a user,wherein each of the first plurality of weights corresponds to a uniqueone of the plurality of categories; calculating, in a computerprogrammed to do so, a first combined score for each of the plurality ofcompanies based on a weighting of the category scores using the firstplurality of weights; causing a first list of the plurality of companiesand the corresponding first combined score for each of the plurality ofcompanies to be presented to the user; receiving a second plurality ofweights selected by the user, wherein each of the second plurality ofweights corresponds to a unique one of the plurality of categories;calculating, in a computer programmed to do so, a second combined scorefor each of the plurality of companies based on a weighting of thecategory scores using the second plurality of weights; and causing asecond list of the plurality of companies and the corresponding secondcombined score for each of the plurality of companies to be presented tothe user.

In some embodiments, methods for evaluating companies based on socialperformance are provided, the methods comprising: receiving dataregarding a plurality of companies from a plurality of data sources,wherein the data includes score values regarding the social performanceof the plurality of companies; calculating, in a computer programmed todo so, category scores for each of the plurality of companies in each ofa plurality of categories based on the score values; calculating acombined score for each of the plurality of companies based on thecategory scores; comparing, in a computer programmed to do so, at leastone of the combined score and the category scores for one of theplurality of companies to a threshold; and based on results of thecomparison, presenting an advertisement to the user that corresponds tothe one of the plurality of companies.

In some embodiments, media containing computer-executable instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform amethod for evaluating companies based on social performance, areprovided, the method comprising: receiving data regarding a plurality ofcompanies from a plurality of data sources, wherein a first portion ofthe data received from at least one of the plurality of data sourcesincludes score values regarding the social performance of the pluralityof companies that use a different scoring system than score valuesincluded in a second portion of the data received from at least oneother of the plurality of data sources; converting, in a computerprogrammed to do so, the score values included in the first portion ofthe data and the score values included in the second portion of the datainto uniform score values in a single scoring system; calculatingcategory scores for each of the plurality of companies in each of aplurality of categories based on the uniform score values; receiving afirst plurality of weights selected by a user, wherein each of the firstplurality of weights corresponds to a unique one of the plurality ofcategories; calculating, in a computer programmed to do so, a firstcombined score for each of the plurality of companies based on aweighting of the category scores using the first plurality of weights;causing a first list of the plurality of companies and the correspondingfirst combined score for each of the plurality of companies to bepresented to the user; receiving a second plurality of weights selectedby the user, wherein each of the second plurality of weights correspondsto a unique one of the plurality of categories; calculating, in acomputer programmed to do so, a second combined score for each of theplurality of companies based on a weighting of the category scores usingthe second plurality of weights; and causing a second list of theplurality of companies and the corresponding second combined score foreach of the plurality of companies to be presented to the user.

In some embodiments, media containing computer-executable instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform amethod for evaluating companies based on social performance, areprovided, the method comprising: receiving data regarding a plurality ofcompanies from a plurality of data sources, wherein the data includesscore values regarding the social performance of the plurality ofcompanies; calculating, in a computer programmed to do so, categoryscores for each of the plurality of companies in each of a plurality ofcategories based on the score values; calculating a combined score foreach of the plurality of companies based on the category scores;comparing, in a computer programmed to do so, at least one of thecombined score and the category scores for one of the plurality ofcompanies to a threshold; and based on results of the comparison,presenting an advertisement to the user that corresponds to the one ofthe plurality of companies.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a user interface for viewing companysocial performance scores that can be used in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a user interface for viewing basiccompany information that can be used in accordance with someembodiments.

FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate an example of a user interface for viewingsubscriber level company information that can be used in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a user interface for viewing newsrelated to a company that can be used in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a user interface for viewing joblistings related to a company that can be used in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration that can beused in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a data categorization hierarchy andspecial issues that can be used in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a process for processing received dataelements that can be used in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of interfaces for customizing weightingsof scores and how special issues are to be treated that can be used inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of an interface for searching for userprofiles that can be used in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a process for selecting advertisementsto be presented that can be used in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems, methods, and media for evaluating companies based on socialperformance are provided. In accordance with some embodiments,mechanisms are provided that enable a user to view and compare companysocial performance data of one or more companies or classes of companiesthat the user is interested in across one or many different measurementdimensions. In this way, the user can be aided in (1) learning whatsources of information are available that describe a company's corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) or sustainability performance (each of whichmay be measured by a company social performance); (2) understanding howa company is currently perceived by sources reporting social performancedata: (3) determining why one company's performance is better than thatof another company or selected group of companies; (4) formulatingapproaches to changing and improving how a company is perceived onsocial issues; (5) communicating information about possible errors orinaccuracies in social performance data that has been summarized; (6)making decisions regarding what companies he or she would like topurchase products from, include in a supply chain, engage in newbusiness development activities, invest in, seek employment with,involve in fund-raising, proxy, boycott, buycott, or other socialactions, and involve in other social and business activities. Forexample, in some embodiments, these mechanisms can score companies basedon their community involvement, governance, employees, environmentalbehavior, and/or any other suitable criteria and present thisinformation to the user. In some embodiments, an overall score canadditionally or alternatively be calculated and presented.

In some embodiments, a user can customize how the scores for one or moreof the criteria are calculated. For example, in some embodiments, a usercan set weightings that are to be applied to one or more scores in thecalculation of an overall score for a company. Additionally oralternatively, a user can apply one or more modifiers to a company thatcan increase the company's score, decrease the company's score, excludethe company from view by the user, and/or any other suitable action onthe company and/or one or more of the company's scores.

In some embodiments, scores for companies can be used to determine whatadvertisements are presented to a user. For example, in someembodiments, a user can set a minimum score that a company must have inorder for advertisements from the company to be presented on one or moreWeb sites, Web portals, email clients, social networking sites,applications, guides, network appliances, television channels, sourcesof media, radio stations, streaming media devices, and/or any othersuitable platform and/or mechanism in which advertisements arepresented.

Turning to FIG. 1, an example of a user interface 100 for presentingscores of companies is shown. As illustrated, interface 100 can includea banner 102 for presenting the names of an operator of a Web sitehosting the interface and/or one or more sponsors of the Web site.Interface 100 can also include menu bars 104 that can allow a user toselect one or more search options, browse options, customizationoptions, help options, and advertising options.

A company score window 106 can also be included in interface 100. Asshown, window 106 can list the names 108 of one or more companies andscores 110, 112, 114, and 116 for the companies' community involvement,governance, employees, and environmental behavior, respectively. Window106 can also present indicators 118 of “special issues” (which aredescribed further below) that may be applicable to a company. An overallscore 120 may additionally or alternatively be presented for one or moreof the companies listed in window 106. Options to buy reports forcorresponding companies can also be presented for one or more companieslisted in window 106, and the option indicator 111 may show the numberof reports available. In some embodiments, a page selection bar (notshown) may be presented for selecting portions of a list of companiesnot presentable in window 106 due to the length of the list.

Various actions can be performed on the companies listed in window 106.For example, in some embodiments, a user can select to save selectedportions of the list, delete selected portions of the list, mergeselected portions of the list with a previously saved list, sortselected portions of the list, share selected portions of the list withother users, publish selected portions of the list to an externaldestination (e.g., a Web site, a social networking site, etc.), requestmore information on selected companies, their goods and services, etc.,add or remove the selected companies to or from a list of approvedcompanies (e.g., approved for providing advertisements), add or removethe selected companies to or from a list of denied companies (e.g.,denied for providing advertisements), buy more detailed reports forselected companies, examine the sources that have information on thecompany, read a description of the company's activities, obtain theaddress, phone number, and Web site of the company, learn who themanagers are of the company, add comments about the company or commenton information that has been posted by other users, suggest that thecompany should be added to or removed from a special issue list, examinethe subcategory scores for one or more companies on the list, examinerecent news articles and job listings for a company, learn the maximumand minimum value for the data that applies to the company and what theaverage performance is of other companies that are in a similar industryor geography, examine past data values for a company, and/or any othersuitable action.

As shown, check boxes 122 may be presented for selecting one or morecompanies to perform an action on. Additionally or alternatively, one ormore selection bars 126 may be presented that enable a user to selectall of the companies listed, deselect all of the companies, and/orreverse the selection shown.

In some embodiments, a user can customize a layout of the informationpresented in window 106. For example, in some embodiments, a user canselect an ordering of columns in the window, can select which category,subcategory, and/or overall scores are presented in the window, and/orcan select whether special issues are presented. A user can select tocreate a layout, edit a layout, and/or load a previously created layout(of the user or another user, for example) using layout bar 128.

A search window 132 may be presented in some embodiments. As shown,window 132 may allow a user to perform an advanced search (asillustrated), a basic search (e.g., a search by keyword), a search forcompanies in a specified industry, a search for companies in a certaingeographical area, a search for companies by the first letter in thename of the company, and/or any other suitable search. For example, inthe advanced search illustrated, a user can specify one or morecategories 138 for the search, one or more subcategories 140 for thesearch, and one or more category values 142 for the search insub-windows 134, relate them logically in sub-windows 136, and theninitiate a search based on these specifications using a find button 146.

In some embodiments, a user can save a search results list with anentered name, change the name of a previously saved list, or load apreviously saved search results list, using a window 130. For example, auser can select to load scores for one or more companies created for anearlier point in time by the user or another user. As described furtherbelow, when a user has loaded a search results list, the user cansubsequently use the profile that was in place when creating that listto customize how other search result lists are presented in someembodiments.

In some embodiments, a user may add companies to a list of companies andperform operations on those companies using window 160. As shown, window160 can provide similar information to that presented in window 106 inrow(s) 162. For companies listed in row(s) 162, a check box in each rowor selection bar 168 may be used to select one or more of the row(s),select all of the companies listed, deselect all of the companies,and/or reverse the selection shown. A user can then save the list ofcompanies with an entered name, change the name of a previously savedlist, retrieve a previously saved list, manage lists of companies,create new lists of companies, share lists of companies with users ornon-users, and/or any other suitable action using window 160 and bar168.

A user may export a list of companies into an XML format or another fileformat in some embodiments using XML, button 131.

As is further described below, in some embodiments, a user can view howscores are determined and what information is presented using the userprofile settings shown in windows 148 and 150, and can customize howscores are presented to the user using the profile selection and editingoptions in window 152. For example, in some embodiments, a user can viewhow one or more scores for one or more companies are calculated usingweighting window 148. As another example, a user can view how one ormore special issues affect a company and/or modify companies' scoresusing window 150 in some embodiments. As yet another example, a user maybe able to select one or more other profiles to be applied to thecontents of interface 100, or edit the user's profile, using window 152.

Turning to FIGS. 2-5, examples of company specific information pages areshown. As illustrated in FIG. 2, details for a company can be presentedin a tab window 200 in some embodiments. As shown, company informationcan be presented in a portion 202. This information can include the nameof the company, one or more identifiers for identifying a securitycorresponding to the company (e.g., ticker, CUSIP, ISIN, etc.), a Website for the company, other Web sites that contain informationspecifically related to the company's social performance, contactinformation (e.g., an address, phone number, email address, etc.) forthe company, information about the management of a company, and/or anyother suitable information for the company. In a portion 204, window 200can additionally or alternatively display one or more scores 206, 208,210, and 212 for the community involvement, employees, environmentalbehavior, and governance, respectively, of a company, and/or any othersuitable criteria. An overall score 214 may additionally oralternatively be displayed. The scores can be displayed for a primarycategory 218, a secondary category 220, a tertiary category 222, anall-company average 224, a user rating 216, and a country or regioncompany average 226.

In some embodiments, flags 230, data source identifiers 232, and/orspecial issues 234 can also be displayed in window 200. Flags 230 caninclude, for example, icons that indicate solely that a company ismentioned on a particular list or by a particular organization. In someembodiments, these “flag” indicators do not affect the company ratings.Data Sources (described further below) 232 can include, for example, oneore more positive association of the company (e.g., such as being listedon a list praising companies for some activity or characteristic) ornegative associations of the company (e.g., such as being listed on alist criticizing companies for some activity or characteristic) and canbe used to calculate a score for the company. And, special issues 234can include, for example, indicators indicating that the company isassociated with a corresponding special issue.

In some embodiments, alternate names for a company can be listed in awindow 228. A benefit of this is that search engine Web crawlers canassociate each of these names with the information in window 200.Further, in some embodiments, for each of these alternate names, thedisplayed name can include a hyperlink to a window like window 200 butfor the corresponding company name.

In some embodiments, one or more of the pieces of information in window200 can be presented in a manner and with a Web site Universal RecordLocator (URL) in such a way as to maximize the value and usefulness ofthe data for search engine Web crawlers.

FIGS. 3A-3C each show examples of a portion of a subscriber tab window300 that can be provided to subscribers for a particular company inaccordance with some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 3A, a user can bepresented with detailed score and special issues information for acompany. For example, next to category scores in columns 302, 304, 306,and 308, subcategory scores can be presented in sections 303, 305, 307,and 309. As another example, data on special issues for the company canbe presented in sections 310 and 312. As shown in FIG. 3B, a user can bepresented with details of data sources providing data values used tocalculate scores for the company. Finally, as shown in FIG. 3C, a usercan be presented with information on special issues, flags, data sourcesand name variants similarly to what is shown and described above inconnection with FIG. 2.

An example of a news tab window 400 is illustrated in FIG. 4. As shown,this window can include company social performance related news that isrelated to the company.

An example of a jobs listings tab window 500 is illustrated in FIG. 5.As shown, this window can include job listing with the company.

In some embodiments, a tab window for user-submitted information canalso be provided. In such a window, a user can enter any suitableinformation related to the social performance of a company. In someembodiments, this data may then be reviewed by one or moreadministrators and/or moderators. This data can then be presented toother users.

FIG. 6 shows an example of hardware 600 that can be used in someembodiments to perform calculations and present interfaces as describedherein. As illustrated, a user can interact (such as making selectionsand being presented with information) with the mechanisms describedherein using a user device 602. This device may be any suitable devicefor such interaction. For example, the device can be a mobile phone, aportable media player, a computer (which can be either portable onnon-portable), a gaming device, an email device, a personal dataassistant, a television, a network appliance, an electronic book, etc.Although the interactions are illustrated as being made using visualinterfaces, any suitable type of interfaces (such as audio interfaces)can be used. This device may be coupled to a communication network 604.Network 604 may include any suitable communication networks, such as theInternet, local area networks, wide area networks, wired networks,wireless networks, cable television networks, satellite networks,telephone networks, etc., or a combination of the same. A server 606 canalso be coupled to the communication network. The server can generateuser interfaces and perform data manipulations described herein. Anysuitable number of servers 606 can be used in some embodiments. Adatabase 608 can be coupled to server 606. The database can include anysuitable data described herein and can be implemented as one or morelogical and/or physical databases. Any suitable number of data bases canbe used in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the server may expose one or more applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) to one or more Web sites, publications,and/or other information distributors (not shown) that allow them toautomatically incorporate scores generated and/or presented (asdescribed herein) into their published content.

The server and/or database can also be coupled to any one or moresuitable data sources 610 (e.g., directly or via the communicationnetwork) used to provide data used to calculate scores. In someembodiments, data sources 610 can be selected so that they contain datathat is published and updated periodically, cover at least twenty (orany other suitable number) of companies for which scores are calculated,provide data that can be mapped to a suitable hierarchy (as furtherdescribed below), and/or meet any other suitable requirement(s). Forexample, data sources can include Web sites, rating agencies,governmental agencies, not for profits, individual users, and/or anyother suitable data source(s).

Each of the user devices, server, database, and/or data sources can beany of a general purpose device such as a computer or a special purposedevice such as a client, a server, etc. Any of these general or specialpurpose devices can include any suitable components such as a processor(which can be a microprocessor, digital signal processor, a controller,etc.), memory, communication interfaces, display controllers, inputdevices, etc.

In some embodiments, the operations shown in FIGS. 7, 8, and 11 can beperformed in the user device, the server, the database and/or one ormore other devices. For example, in some embodiments, a hierarchy asillustrated in FIG. 7 can be created in the database. As anotherexample, the hierarchy can be created in the server and transferred tothe database. As yet another example, the data can be mapped in theserver. As still another example, the data can be mapped in a userdevice.

In some embodiments, the user interactions shown in FIGS. 1-5, 9, and 10can be controlled by the server, the user devices, and/or one or moreother devices. For example, the user interactions can be controlledthrough a Web page controlled by the server. As another example, theuser interactions can be controlled through a dedicated applicationrunning on the user devices.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a hierarchy 700 of subcategories702-710 and categories 712 and 714 of data, plus a set of special issues716-722 of data, that can be used to calculate scores and/or an overallrating for companies in some embodiments. As described above inconnection with FIG. 6, this data can be received from one or more datasources 610. In some embodiments, each subcategory may belong to onlyone category. Any suitable number (including one) of categories,subcategories, and special issues can be used. Each subcategory candescribe one aspect of company social performance. Examples of suchaspects include: human rights and supply chain; product; communitydevelopment and philanthropy; compensation and benefits; diversity andlabor rights; training, safety, and health; energy and climate change;environmental policy and reporting; resource management; board ofdirectors; leadership ethics; transparency and reporting; etc. Eachcategory can describe a higher level of company social performance suchas community involvement, employees, governance, environmental behavior,etc. As yet another example, each special issue can describe one or morespecific issues of company social performance that a user might beinterested in. Examples of such special issues can include: involvementin Burma, involvement in nuclear power, attitude towards minorities,animal testing, anti-NRA & firearms, coal companies, diverse board, GLBTsensitive, labor unions support, military contractor, pollutants, proworking mom, tea party boycott, etc.

Turning to FIG. 8 and example of a process 800 for processing dataelements in accordance with some embodiments is illustrated. As shown,after process 800 begins at 802, a data element is received from a datasource (e.g., data source 610 of FIG. 6) at 804. Next, at 806, the dataelement can be mapped to one, some, or no subcategory and/or specialissues. An administrator can specify: 1) to which subcategory or specialissues a data element is to be mapped to based on the type of dataelement; 2) what overall importance (weight) will be given to a dataelement within a subcategory and/or special issues; 3) how much of thevalue of the data element will be given to a particular subcategory orspecial issues; etc. For example, a data element X might be given animportance that is 1.5 times that of the average data element, and, ofits value, 25% might be mapped to subcategory A, 10% might be mapped tosubcategory B, and the remaining 65% might be mapped to special topic R.

In some embodiments, the data elements from each data source can then beconverted from their native rating system into a uniform scoring system(e.g., a 0 to 100 scoring system) at 808. The manner of performing thisconversion can be different for each data item, as data items from thesame source may have different rating systems. The conversions caninclude but are not limited to:

-   -   Discrete conversions that match specific data values to specific        scores. For example, “Yes” can be converted into a score of 80,        and “No” can be converted into a score of 20.    -   Function conversions that convert a distribution of data values        into a distribution of scores. For example, if the percentage of        a Board of Directors of a company that is woman ranges from 0%        to 50%, a conversion routine might be:

Score=[% of Board that is women]*200+50.

-   -   This conversion would give a range of scores from 0 (for 0%) to        100 (when the value is 50%).    -   Range conversions that map a range of values to a score. For        example, a company with zero superfund site may be assigned a        score of 80, companies with one superfund site get a score of        40, companies with two superfund sites get a score of 30,        companies with three to five superfund sites get a score of 10,        and companies with more than five superfund sites get a score of        zero.

Following the mapping and conversion at 806 and 808, the data elementcan be saved into a table in database 608 (FIG. 6) at 810. For each dataelement, for example, the following can be saved: a unique name for thedata element; a code that indicates the name of the data source; thedate the data element was gathered; the name or other identifier of thecompany to which the data element applies; the original value for thatparticular data element; the converted value (in the uniform scoringsystem) for that particular data element (if applicable); thesubcategory or special issue the data element is to be mapped to; theoverall importance (weight) to be given to the data element within asubcategory and/or special issue; the value of the data element that isto be given to a particular subcategory or special issue; and/or anyother suitable data. Each time a data source updates its dataelement(s), one or more new records can be added to the data elementtable with the correct new date.

Using the new data element record, scores for each subcategory andspecial issue for each company can be calculated or re-calculated at812. For example, the score S for a company C in subcategory SC can berepresented as:

S _(C,SC)=Σ_(i=1) ^(N) V _(i,SC) *W _(i,SC)

where:

-   -   there are N corresponding data elements for subcategory SC and        company C;    -   V_(i,SC) is the value to be used for data element i of N in        subcategory SC; and W_(i,SC) is the weight to be applied for        data element i of Nin subcategory SC.

In some embodiments, the values from data element records can befiltered when calculating scores at 812 so that only those that arevalid for a particular date are considered. For example, whencalculating a subcategory score for today for a company, the mostcurrent data can be used, and out-of-date data can be ignored. On theother hand, as another example, when calculating a subcategory score forsome point in the past, old data corresponding to that point in the pastcan be used, and newer data can be ignored.

In some embodiments, special issue scores can be compared to a thresholdto make sure that the special issue should be applied to a company. Forexample, a company may be determined to be properly associated with anspecial issue (e.g., involved in Burma) if it has a score for thatspecial issue of more than 70 (or any other suitable number) AND if atleast two sources indicate that the special issue should apply to thecompany (e.g., it is involved in Burma). If a special issue has beendetermined to be properly associated with a company, the score for thatcompany in the special issue can be set to 100 (or any other suitablevalue).

In some embodiments, the scores for data sources can next be analyzedand processed to remove bias in the scores at 814. For example, in someembodiments, the following process can be used to de-bias scores fordata sources: First, the total score by category by company for all datasources and the score by category by company for each data source can becalculated. Next, for each category, the distribution of scores acrossall of the companies for each data source and the distribution of totalscores across all of the companies for all data sources can bedetermined. The parameters of the best fit beta function curve for eachof these distributions can then be determined. For each category, aconversion table that converts the scores for the companies for eachdata source into scores that fit the best fit beta function curve forthe companies across all data sources is determined and applied. Forexample, for a specific category, a data source that is biasedpositively might have a midpoint of 70 for scores of all companies. Ifthe total score for that category across all data sources has a midpointat 48 for scores of all companies, the midpoint score of 70 from theindividual data source may be transformed into a new de-biased score of48, and all other scores for that data source similarly skewed. Next,the scores for each subcategory for each company can be re-calculated(as described above) using the de-biased scores. A suitable distributioncurve for the calculated scores can then be selected. In someembodiments, this curve can be selected so that it spreads out scoresevenly over a range from 0 to 100 with some scores at both ends and nottoo many in the middle. This curve selection can be made automaticallyor manually based on the underlying data and other rating systems. Thescores can then be mapped to the chosen curve. For example, if themidpoint of all scores for a given subcategory is 50 and the midpoint ofthe chosen distribution is 48, the score of 50 can be mapped to 48. Ifthe 20^(th) percentile of a subcategory distribution of scores is at 38and the 20^(th) percentile of the chosen distribution is at 23, a scoreof 38 can be mapped to 23. Finally, the scores for each subcategory foreach company can be re-calculated (as described above) using the mappedscores.

Finally, the scores can be saved to database 608 in FIG. 6 at 816 andprocess 800 can loop back to 804 to receive the next data element.

While a set of process steps in a particular order is illustrated inprocess 800 of FIG. 8, some of these steps can be omitted when desired,additional steps can be added, and the ordering of steps can be changed.For example, conversion step 808 can be omitted when suitable. Asanother example, some of the saving of data performed in 810 can beperformed before conversion step 808 is performed.

Similarly, while process 800 illustrates a single data element beingreceived and operated on, the steps performed in process 800 couldoperate on multiple data elements at each step of the processsimultaneously.

Referring back to FIG. 1, as mentioned in connection with windows 148,150, and 152, a user may be able to indicate the relative importance ofthe categories and/or of the subcategories in the total score of acompany in some embodiments. For example, as illustrated in window 900of FIG. 9, in some embodiments, a user can indicate weights to beapplied to the scores of individual categories (e.g., for categories902, 904, 906, and 908 as shown) in calculating a total score for acompany. In such an example, when calculating a total score S_(T) for acompany when using weights with values of 1 to 5 as illustrated in FIG.9 for community involvement CO, employee EM, environmental behavior EN,and governance GO categories, the total score can be calculated as:

$S_{T} = {{\frac{W_{CO} - 1}{4}*S_{CO}} + {\frac{W_{EM} - 1}{4}*S_{EM}} + {\frac{W_{EN} - 1}{4}*S_{EN}} + {\frac{W_{GO} - 1}{4}*S_{GO}}}$

As another example, in some embodiments, changes in the weight settingscan affect the impact of the category scores on the total score in anon-linear fashion. That is, a 10% change in the weighting for acategory may have an affect of the category score different from 10%.Thus, in such cases, the total score may be calculated as:

S _(T) =f _(CO)(W _(CO))*S _(CO) +f _(EM)(W _(EM))*S _(EM) +f _(EN)(W_(EN))*S _(EN) +f _(GO)(W _(GO))*S _(GO)

where:

-   -   f_(CO) is a non-linear function (such as a beta function);    -   f_(EM) is a non-linear function (such as a beta function);    -   f_(EN) is a non-linear function (such as a beta function);    -   f_(GO) is a non-linear function (such as a beta function); and    -   the sum of f_(CO), f_(EM), f_(EN), and f_(GO) is one.

In some embodiments, a user can additionally or alternatively indicatehow special issues are to impact the total score for a company. Forexample, as illustrated in window 910 of FIG. 9, a user can specify thatcertain special issues are to decrease a company's score by some amount(e.g., which can be predetermined based on a user's profile, which canbe fixed for all users, etc.) as shown for factors 912 and 914, thatcertain special issues are to increase a company's score by some amount(e.g., which can be predetermined based on a user's profile, which canbe fixed for all users, etc.) as shown for factor 916, that certainspecial issues are to exclude a company from lists, advertisements, etc.as shown by factor 918, and that certain special issues are to have noimpact as shown by factors 920 and 922.

In some embodiments, these user settings for weights and/or specialissues can be saved in a profile for the user. In some embodiments,these user settings for weights and/or special issues can be saved in aprofile for a group of users. Groups of users can be given the abilityto adjust their group profiles, allow users to join their group, ejectusers from their group, and manage additional information for theirgroup.

As mentioned above in connection with window 152 of FIG. 1, in someembodiments a user can select to switch a profile being used tocalculate and present company social performance data. A profile caninclude values for weights, indications of how special issues should betreated, layouts for search lists, and/or any other user configurableand/or customizable settings. Switching profiles can be performed byselecting the name of a new user profile (e.g., which may be the name ofanother user that has elected to share his or her profile, the name of agroup profile, the name of a system-defined profile, etc.) from a dropdown menu such as that in window 152 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, auser may search for a profile setting created by another user or groupof users (e.g., using interface 1000 of FIG. 10) that is similar ordissimilar to the one that the user is currently using, based on a nameof the profile, based on similar profile settings, and/or based on anyother suitable criteria or criterion. When the user finds a profilesetting that is interesting, the user may inspect the profile settingand then use it if desired.

In some embodiments, one or more advertisements presented in connectionwith the presentation of a Web page can be selected based on theadvertisements being only from companies having one or more scores thatmeet a given threshold (which can be user and/or system specified),having only qualifying special issues (e.g., not having any specialissues that indicate to exclude the company), and/or being included inan approved list and/or not being included in a denied list. Thefiltering of advertisements in Web pages can be performed at a server(such as a Web page server or an advertisement server working inconjunction with a Web page server) or a Web browser client on a clientcomputer. Similarly, filtering of advertisements can be performed inconnection with other applications, such as email clients, socialnetworking applications, program guides, network appliances, televisionchannels, sources of media, radio stations, streaming media devices,electronic books, and/or any other suitable platform and/or mechanism inwhich advertisements are presented. Further, this technique can be usedby advertisers to select candidates to receive advertisements who aremore likely to be interested in a particular advertisement, and/or toselect the best advertisement for a target customer based on whichadvertisements correspond to companies that would score highest with thetarget customer based on his/her profile.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example process 1100 for selecting anadvertisement to be presented to a user in accordance with someembodiments. As shown, after process 1100 begins at 1102, the processreceives information on the user and an advertisement at 1104. Thisinformation can include, for example, one or more score thresholds ofthe user, rules of the user for how special issues are to be treated, adesired category for the advertisement and/or the advertisement space,information on companies trying to advertise in the advertisement space,and/or any other suitable information. Next, at 1106, the process canretrieve score threshold information for the user in the category of thedesired advertisement. The first advertisement can then be selected at1108. Any suitable technique for selecting the first advertisement canbe used. Information for the selected advertisement can next be obtainedat 1110. At 1112, process 1100 can determine if a score of the companyaffiliated with the selected advertisement passes a user threshold. Ifnot, then process 1100 selects the next advertisement at 1114 and loopsback to 1110. Otherwise, process 1100 presents the selectedadvertisement at 1116 and process 1100 ends at 1118.

In some embodiments, a user can provide feedback on advertisements. Thisfeedback can be used as a data source to score the social performance ofcompanies and/or provide special issues. For example, in someembodiments, a user may be able to indicate that a company beingadvertised on a Web site should have a special issue applied to it.After a sufficient number of such indications have been received, anadministrator can use this data to update the special issues for acompany. Similarly, such indications can also be used to impact companyscores in some embodiments, which can the result in future blocking ofadvertisements by the company for the user and/or other users. Blockingor unblocking of advertisements will also be influenced by whether ornot the blocking or unblocking indication came from another user who isin the same user group as the user who is receiving ads. Within groupinput can be given more or less weight than general input from otherusers.

In some embodiments, any suitable computer readable media can be usedfor storing instructions for performing the processes described herein.For example, in some embodiments, computer readable media can betransitory or non-transitory. For example, non-transitory computerreadable media can include media such as magnetic media (such as harddisks, floppy disks, etc.), optical media (such as compact discs,digital video discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), semiconductor media (such asflash memory, electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), etc.), anysuitable media that is not fleeting or devoid of any semblance ofpermanence during transmission, and/or any suitable tangible media. Asanother example, transitory computer readable media can include signalson networks, in wires, conductors, optical fibers, circuits, anysuitable media that is fleeting and devoid of any semblance ofpermanence during transmission, and/or any suitable intangible media.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated in theforegoing illustrative embodiments, it is understood that the presentdisclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerouschanges in the details of implementation of the invention can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which isonly limited by the claims which follow. Features of the disclosedembodiments can be combined and rearranged in various ways.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for evaluating companies based on socialperformance, comprising: a memory; and at least one hardware processorthat is coupled to the memory and that: receives a user-specifiedthreshold; receives information related to an advertisement space on aWeb page; receives data regarding a plurality of companies from aplurality of data sources, wherein a first portion of the data receivedfrom at least one of the plurality of data sources includes score valuesregarding the social performance of the plurality of companies that usea different scoring system than score values included in a secondportion of the data received from at least one other of the plurality ofdata sources; converts the score values included in the first portion ofthe data and the score values included in the second portion of the datainto uniform score values in a single scoring system, wherein theconverting includes determining and applying conversion tables thatconvert the scores values for the plurality of companies for each datasource into scores that fit a best fit beta function curve for thecompanies across all data sources and across all categories; calculatescategory scores for each of the plurality of companies in each of aplurality of categories based on the uniform score values; receives aselection of a profile by a user, wherein the profile specifies aplurality of weights, wherein each of the plurality of weightscorresponds to a unique one of the plurality of categories; calculates acombined score for each of the plurality of companies based on aweighting of the category scores using the plurality of weights; selectsan advertisement for presentation in the advertisement space of the Webpage; determines whether at least one of the combined score and thecategory scores of one of the plurality of companies that is affiliatedwith the selected advertisement passes the user-specified threshold; andwhen the at least one of the combined score and the category scores meetthe user-specified threshold, presents the advertisement in theadvertisement space of the Web page.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe at least one processor determines that another of the plurality ofcompanies corresponds to a user-selected exclusionary factor and causesan advertisement of the other of the plurality of companies to be notpresented.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processorcalculates one of the category scores for one of the plurality ofcategories based on a plurality of scores for subcategories in the oneof the plurality of categories.
 4. A method for evaluating companiesbased on social performance, comprising: receiving a user-specifiedthreshold; receiving information related to an advertisement space on aWeb page; receiving data regarding a plurality of companies from aplurality of data sources, wherein a first portion of the data receivedfrom at least one of the plurality of data sources includes score valuesregarding the social performance of the plurality of companies that usea different scoring system than score values included in a secondportion of the data received from at least one other of the plurality ofdata sources; converting, in a hardware processor, the score valuesincluded in the first portion of the data and the score values includedin the second portion of the data into uniform score values in a singlescoring system, wherein the converting includes determining and applyingconversion tables that convert the scores values for the plurality ofcompanies for each data source into scores that fit a best fit betafunction curve for the companies across all data sources and across allcategories; calculating category scores for each of the plurality ofcompanies in each of a plurality of categories based on the uniformscore values; receiving a selection of a profile by a user, wherein theprofile specifies a plurality of weights, wherein each of the pluralityof weights corresponds to a unique one of the plurality of categories;calculating a combined score for each of the plurality of companiesbased on a weighting of the category scores using the plurality ofweights; selecting an advertisement for presentation in theadvertisement space of the Web page; determining whether at least one ofthe combined score and the category scores of one of the plurality ofcompanies that is affiliated with the selected advertisement passes theuser-specified threshold; and when the at least one of the combinedscore and the category scores meet the user-specified threshold,presenting the advertisement in the advertisement space of the Web page.5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: determining that anotherof the plurality of companies corresponds to a user-selectedexclusionary factor; and causing an advertisement of the other of theplurality of companies to be not presented.
 6. The method of claim 4,wherein calculating one of the category scores for one of the pluralityof categories is based on a plurality of scores for subcategories in theone of the plurality of categories.
 7. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructionsthat, when executed by a hardware processor, cause the processor toperform a method for evaluating companies based on social performance,the method comprising: receiving a user-specified threshold; receivinginformation related to an advertisement space on a Web page; receivingdata regarding a plurality of companies from a plurality of datasources, wherein a first portion of the data received from at least oneof the plurality of data sources includes score values regarding thesocial performance of the plurality of companies that use a differentscoring system than score values included in a second portion of thedata received from at least one other of the plurality of data sources;converting the score values included in the first portion of the dataand the score values included in the second portion of the data intouniform score values in a single scoring system, wherein the convertingincludes determining and applying conversion tables that convert thescores values for the plurality of companies for each data source intoscores that fit a best fit beta function curve for the companies acrossall data sources and across all categories; calculating category scoresfor each of the plurality of companies in each of a plurality ofcategories based on the uniform score values; receiving a selection of aprofile by a user, wherein the profile specifies a plurality of weights,wherein each of the plurality of weights corresponds to a unique one ofthe plurality of categories; calculating a combined score for each ofthe plurality of companies based on a weighting of the category scoresusing the plurality of weights; selecting an advertisement forpresentation in the advertisement space of the Web page; determiningwhether at least one of the combined score and the category scores ofone of the plurality of companies that is affiliated with the selectedadvertisement passes the user-specified threshold; and when the at leastone of the combined score and the category scores meet theuser-specified threshold, presenting the advertisement in theadvertisement space of the Web page.
 8. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the method furthercomprises: determining that another of the plurality of companiescorresponds to a user-selected exclusionary factor; and causing anadvertisement of the other of the plurality of companies to be notpresented.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7wherein calculating one of the category scores for one of the pluralityof categories is based on a plurality of scores for subcategories in theone of the plurality of categories.